Sightsavers – Nigeria

In Africa 300,000 people have lost their sight because of river blindness, and more than 37 million people are infected.

In Kaduna, Nigeria, Sightsavers is close to eliminating the disease, where it was once endemic. They use Community Director Distributors (CCDs) to distribute Mectizan, and sensitise the community to the risks of river blindness.

The intervention began 10 years ago, and since the drug distribution began, no more cases of river blindness have been reported.

To publicise this remarkable achievement a series of photographs were commissioned by Sightsavers. The photographs were edited into a slideshow and this was published on the Guardian Web site.

ClientSightsaversServicesPhotographyYear2012Linkwww.sightsavers.org

See the slideshow featured on the Guardian

A young girl poses for a photograph while being measured to see how many doses of Mectizan, the drug used to prevent river blindness, she needs to take, in the village of Kudaru in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Community Director Distributors (CDD) distribute Mectizan, the drug used to prevent river blindness, in the village of Kudaru in Kaduna, Nigeria.

A Community Director Distributor (CDD) measures a young girl to see how much, Mectizan, the drug used to prevent river blindness, she needs in the village of Kudaru in Kaduna, Nigeria.

A Community Director Distributor (CDD) talks to a group of women before starting their distribution of Mectizan, the drug used to prevent river blindness, in the village of Kudaru in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Sila Maigari, who lost his sight to river blindess forty years ago, is helped to stand up by his daughter in law, in the village of Kudaru in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Anna Banabas, who is blind, poses for a photograph with her daughter in law and grand daughter at their home in the village of Were in Kaduna, Nigeria.

A Community Director Distributor (CDD) distributes Mectizan, the drug used to prevent river blindness, in the village of Were in Kaduna, Nigeria.

A Community Director Distributor (CDD) measures a young boy before giving him Mectizan, the drug used to prevent river blindness, in the village of Were in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Community Director Distributors (CDD's) carry out a sensitisation about the dangers of River Blindess to a community gathering in the village of Were in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Ajiyan Allah, who contracted River Blindness twenty years ago, is led out of her house by her grand daughter, Godiya, who is five years old, in the village of Garamach in Kaduna, Nigeria.

A woman washes her child in a river in the village of Were, in Kaduna, Nigeria. Rivers like this one are where the flies that spread river blindness breed.

A woman collects water from the river in the village of Were, in Kaduna, Nigeria. Rivers like this one are where the flies that spread river blindness breed.

Community Director Distributors (CDD's) measure a young girl to see how much Mectizan, the drug used to prevent river blindness, she needs in the village of Kudaru in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Anna Banabas, who is blind, is helped to shell peanuts by her daughter in law, the only task she can now, the village of Were in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Community Director Distributors (CDD's) walk through a village to do their annual distribution of Mectizan, the drug used to prevent river blindness, in the village of WERE in Kaduna, Nigeria.

A young girls listens to a Community Director Distributor (CDD's) carry out a sensitisation about the dangers of River Blindess in the village of Were in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Women gather to listen to a Community Director Distributor (CDD's) carry out a sensitisation about the dangers of River Blindess in the village of Were in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Community Director Distributor's (CDD's) walk through a village to do their annual distribution of Mectizan, the drug used to prevent river blindness, in the village of Kudaru in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Sila Maigari, who lost his sight to river blindess forty years ago,poses for a photograph in his room, in the village of Kudaru in Kaduna, Nigeria. River Blindness was endemic to this area before Sightsavers started their intervention by distributing Mectizan and sensitising the community to the risks of river blindness ten years ago, and since then no more cases of blindness have been recorded.

Women return from a river after collecting water in the village of Garamach in Kaduna, Nigeria. River Blindness is transmitted by black flies that live and breed near river beds, making women particularly vulnerable to infection.